Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars (Gluten Free!)

Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars
From CookingTF.com

1-1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup arrowroot, optional
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp sea salt
8 Tbs cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 eggs, divided
1/4 cup sucanat or other unrefined sweetener, or more to taste
8 ounces cream cheese or kefir cheese
1 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs coconut milk or dairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 – 1 batch butterscotch sauce**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 8×8 pan and set aside.

In a food processor, combine the almond flour, arrowroot, baking powder and salt. Pulse until combined. And the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Divide the mixture in half and remove half from the food processor and set aside. Place one egg into the food processor with the remaining dough and pulse until combined. Pour the mixture into a greased 8×8 pan and smooth. Bake for 12 minutes or until set.

Meanwhile, place the remaining egg, sweetener, cream cheese, lemon juice, milk and vanilla extra into the food processor and process until uniformly combined. Pour over the par-baked crust and smooth to the edges. Take the remaining crust mixture and sprinkle over the top, breaking it up with your fingers if necessary. Press the crust down lightly into the cheesecake filling.
Return to the oven until the top crust is browned and the cheesecake filling is set, 25-30 minutes.
Once you remove the cheesecake from the oven, coat the top with butterscotch sauce.
Cool and refrigerate until completely chilled before serving.

**Butterscotch Sauce
4 Tbs (1/4 cup or a 1/2 stick) butter
scant 1/2 cup rapadura or coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream or coconut cream or coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a 2-quart or larger saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the rapadura, cream and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, reduce heat so that the mixture stays at a simmer instead of a rolling boil and cook for 5-10 minutes, whisking constantly. The longer you cook the mixture, the thicker the sauce will be. The sauce in the picture above was cooked for about 10 minutes and reached 200 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool briefly. Whisk in the vanilla extract and taste. Adjust the salt and extract until you like the taste of the sauce. Store any leftovers in the fridge and consume within 3 days.

These look so yummy!!!!!!!!